Historical Events
The following events took place on . The list is arranged in chronological order.
Found 55 events. Showing 31 - 55.
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- Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to sign a million-dollar contract.
- World War I: The Battle of the Somme begins with a week-long artillery bombardment on the German Line.
- First airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto.
- A bloodless revolution instigated by the People’s Party ends the absolute power of King Prajadhipok of Siam (now Thailand).
- Pieces of a meteor, estimated to have weighed 450 metric tons when it hit the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded, land near Chicora, Pennsylvania.
- Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Phibunsongkhram, the country’s third prime minister.
- World War II: Operation Collar, the first British Commando raid on occupied France, by No 11 Independent Company.
- Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington.
- Start of the Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union makes overland travel between West Germany and West Berlin impossible.
- The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, is aired on NBC starring William Boyd.
- First Indochina War: Battle of Mang Yang Pass: Viet Minh troops belonging to the 803rd Regiment ambush G.M. 100 of France in An Khê.
- In Roth v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment.
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- The United Kingdom grants Zanzibar internal self-government.
- The worst caving disaster in British history takes six lives at Mossdale Caverns.
- The UpStairs Lounge arson attack takes place at a gay bar located on the second floor of the three-story building at 141 Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Thirty-two people die as a result of fire or smoke inhalation.
- The Humber Bridge is opens to traffic, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It would be the world’s longest single-span suspension bridge for 17 years.
- “The Jakarta Incident”: British Airways Flight 9 flies into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, resulting in the failure of all four engines.
- Jiang Zemin succeeds Zhao Ziyang to become the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
- “Rugby World Cup final”: South Africa defeats New Zealand, Nelson Mandela presents Francois Pienaar with the Webb-Ellis trophy in an iconic post-apartheid moment.
- The Igandu train disaster in Tanzania kills 281, the worst train accident in African history.
- In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional.
- John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon, in the longest match in professional tennis history.
- Julia Gillard assumed office as the first female Prime Minister of Australia.
- Lonesome George, the last known individual of Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii, a subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise, dies.
- Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is found guilty of abusing his power and having sex with an underage prostitute, and is sentenced to seven years in prison.
